


Dickbabs week 2018

by chick_with_wifi



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Birds of Prey (Comic), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-19 12:50:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17001993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chick_with_wifi/pseuds/chick_with_wifi
Summary: A collection of short fics written for Dickbabs week, originally posted on tumblr.





	Dickbabs week 2018

**Author's Note:**

> The reason days 3 and 7 are missing is because I made edits for them which you can find on my tumblr @oraclebabsgordon

Day 1 - firsts

The first time Dick and Babs held hands was during their tenure as Robin and Batgirl.

They were in the middle of an investigation that involved attending a party, and just as they went downstairs Dick took Babs by the hand.

She had been concerned about her outfit not blending in, but Dick had told her, “Get real. With hair like that you couldn’t blend in if you tried.”

He was right, though. Red hair tended to be memorable, as much as she wished it wasn’t.

A lot of firsts happened that day. First time they saw each other without masks. First time they learned each others names.

First time Babs admitted to herself that she really liked him.

However, the first time they held hands out of love came a few years later.

It was late at night and they were talking, a deep and meaningful conversation, and without either of them realising, Dick had taken her hand and was running his thumb over it, tracing an abstract pattern.

She laced her fingers through his and pressed their palms together as she nestled closer to him.

And the first time they held hands while walking down the street came a few years after that.

It had been raining, and they were holding the umbrella between them with their fingers entwined. But since the rain had stopped, the umbrella was lowered. Neither of them let go of the others hand and they continued walking to their destination with joined hands.

Babs tossed her hair and laughed at some ridiculous joke he had made.

That was the first time Dick realised he was in love with her.

Something they would always remember about those formative years was the comforting constant of each others’ presence in their lives, embodied by their clasped hands.

They would never leave each other.

Day 2 - best friends

Barbara was trying to focus on the book she was reading when she heard something pattering against her window. Initially she assumed it was rain, but the rhythm was too irregular for that.

She drew back the curtain and saw none other than Dick Grayson standing in her garden holding a handful of small stones.

Opening the window, she hissed, “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to see you. Come for a ride.” He gestured with his head to the motorcycle leaning against the fence.

She glanced back at her bedroom door, then made up her mind and threw one leg over the windowsill. She climbed gracefully down the drainpipe and dropped onto the lawn. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.” He handed her a helmet. “Safety first.”

He put on his own and climbed onto the motorcycle. Babs sat behind him with her arms clasped around his chest and they set off.

“Bruce lets you do this?” she asked over the wind.

“Bruce doesn’t exactly know.” He glanced back at her. “Don’t tell him.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” They swerved slightly. “Ah! Eyes on the road.”

“Relax, I won’t crash. I’ve done this plenty of times before.”

“That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.”

“I’m a fantastic driver,” he assured her. “Trust me.”

A few minutes later they arrived at the outskirts of a wood, further out of the city than she had realised. 

They both dismounted and Dick propped the motorcycle against a tree. Then he led the way over to a large object Babs hadn’t noticed and pulled a tarp off it, to reveal an old car.

“Why are we here?”

“Because this -” he climbed onto the hood of the car “- is the optimum location for stargazing.”

She hopped up after him and leant back against the windshield. Sure enough, the stars were crystal clear without the light pollution of Gotham.

“I’d almost forgotten the sky could look like that,” she said quietly.

“I like to come out here to remind myself to pay attention to the big picture,” he said. “The thing about Bruce is, he can get so wrapped up in being Gotham’s caped crusader that he forgets how beautiful the world can be.”

“It is beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here.”

“Of course. You’re my best friend.”

Day 4 - dance

“Why are there so many people?” Barbara hissed to Dick, looking around the crowded room and biting her bottom lip.

“It’s a club, Babs. That’s kind of the idea. Wait -” he smirked at her “- is this your first time clubbing?”

She folded her arms. “No, of course not. Dinah has dragged me out a few times. Anyway, do I need to remind you we’re here on a job?”

He shook his head. “All you ever think about is work.”

“You try being the all-seeing Oracle. It’s not as easy as I make it look.” At the corner of her field of vision, she noticed someone familiar and narrowed her eyes to try and get a better look. It was hard to make much out in the dim flashing lights, but she recognised their target.

She tugged on Dick’s arm, indicating for him to bend down so she could whisper in his ear. “Don’t look now, tall guy in a white shirt at 2 o’clock is who we’re here to protect.”

He straightened up and casually surveyed the room. “Perfect. We’ll keep an eye on him, and in the meantime...let’s dance!”

Her hands fell to her sides. “I don’t know…”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to let all those years of dance lessons go to waste?”

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Sure you aren’t worried about me upstaging you?”

“Bold of you to assume you can upstage a trained trapeze artist like myself.” 

“Just don’t go swinging from the rafters or anything. That might blow our cover.”

He offered Babs his hand and she took it, letting him pull her through the crowd so they didn’t get seperated.

Once they found a suitably uncrowded space where their man was still in sight, ‘Can’t touch this’ by MC Hammer was playing and they began dancing.

Facing each other, they moved their upper bodies to opposite sides, leading with their heads, and snapped their fingers in perfect unison.

After that, ‘who let the dogs out’ played and Dick immediately began busting out some moves like the dancefloor was his second home. He shuffled, moonwalked and ended in a one handed back-handspring that clearly showcased his gymnastics background.

“Very impressive,” Babs said. “But can you do this?”

She popped a wheelie and did four fast turns timed to the music, then balanced in place for a few seconds before bringing her front castors down.

“Very nice,” Dick said, applauding. “I like the wheelchair parkour.”

“That wasn’t wheelchair parkour. Going down a staircase in my chair is wheelchair parkour.” She grinned at the memory. “You were so shocked the first time you saw me do that.”

“It was impressive,” he agreed. 

“Hey, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Let’s show these people something really impressive.” He stepped closer to her and took hold of her footplate with one hand and the bar on the back of her chair with the other. “Ready?”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nodded. He lifted her off the ground - chair and all - and brought her over his head in a somersault. When he placed her back down, they realised everyone in the club was staring at them.

The applause began immediately and Babs felt herself blush the same colour as her hair. “So much for being undercover,” she muttered.

The tall guy in the white shirt approached them, clapping. “That was incredible!”

“Thanks,” Babs replied, feeling slightly awkward.

“How would you two feel about having a chat over coffee? I’d love to get some ideas, you see my niece is in a wheelchair and wants to get into dancing.”

Babs smiled. “I’d be happy to. As long as my boyfriend doesn’t mind?” She looked at Dick, who shrugged as if to say ‘it’s up to you’. “Let’s go.”

[Author’s note: the somersault was inspired by Chelsie Hill’s Believer video]

Day 5 - cuddling

Dick ran his fingers through Barbara’s hair as they cuddled on the sofa, her head tucked under her chin. For once it was a slow night in Gotham, but he hadn’t ruled out the possibility that the other bats were taking care of everything to give the pair some time off.

“Babs?”

“Mm?”

“D’you ever think about what we would be doing if we weren’t vigilantes?”

He felt her weight shift as she moved to look at him. “Not really. Why?”

He shrugged. “I was just wondering. I figured I might own a circus. I mean, I own one now but I mostly leave the running it and stuff to other people. Hey, maybe I would be the ringmaster! That would be cool.”

“Yeah, I can imagine you doing that. But I can’t get the image of you in a ringmaster’s outfit out of my head. Though honestly anything is better than that awful Discowing outfit you wore.”

“Why won’t you let me live that down?”

“Because you won’t admit it was hideous!”

“What about you? What do you think you would be doing?” If Babs noticed his awkward subject change, she didn’t let it show.

She hummed thoughtfully. “I guess I’d be a full time librarian. Or a congresswoman. I’ve always considered going into politics. Possibly a gymnast, I considered doing that when I was younger.”

“You’d be good at all those things.”

“Thanks.” She leaned back on the sofa and put her arms around him, snuggling into his side. “But you have to remember one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“If we weren’t vigilantes, chances are we would never have met. Billionaire Bruce Wayne’s ward doesn’t exactly move in the same social circles as Commissioner Gordon’s nerdy daughter.”

“I don’t know,” Dick said. “I like to think fate would have brought us together somehow.”

“You’re such a dork.”

Day 6 - AU

Barbara was at the indoor skate park for the third time that week. She had been teaching her friend Wendy Harris some of the tricks of the trade, but this time she was on her own.

She put on her helmet, secured the straps on her wheelchair and rolled down the ramp. As she gathered speed she gained enough momentum to make it up the opposite side, then grabbed onto the rim of the ramp to turn herself around and headed back down.

After a few warm up rounds of that, she figured it was time to go big or go home. She headed to the biggest ramp of them all, the one with a cushioned landing pad, and went for it. She had been practicing for a few months now and had wiped out more times than she cared to admit, but Gordons don’t give up.

She backed up a few feet so she would have enough room to build up speed, then pushed herself down the ramp. While she was up in the air, she did a backflip and landed it perfectly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the dark haired boy approaching. He had been at the park a few times before doing stunts on his BMX, and Barbara had noticed him watching her. Granted, that was probably because she’d been watching him.

He smiled at her. “Hey.”

She took off her helmet, tossing her red hair. “Hi.” She held out her hand and he shook it. “Barbara Gordon, friends call me Babs.”

“Richard Grayson. Friends call me Dick.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You sure they’re your friends?”

He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. “Those were some really cool tricks you did.”

“Thanks.”

“Where’d you learn to do that?”

“Most of it I figured it out myself,” she replied. “Taking what people were doing on bikes and skateboards etcetera and adapting it into something I could do.”

“That’s awesome.”

“But don’t sell yourself short. That back wheelie and handlebar spin you did on the half pipe was something else!”

Dick smiled. “Ah, so you were watching me.”

“I, uh, might’ve been.” She rubbed the back of her neck and felt herself blush.

The pair smiled at each other for a few seconds before Dick said, “Hey, you wanna get something to eat? I know a place that does the best ice cream sundae you will ever taste.”

“I’d like that.” She gestured toward the door. “Lead the way.”

Babs put her helmet and elbow pads in her backpack, and followed him out of the skate park. It was a nice day and they travelled in companionable silence until they reached their destination, a 60s-style diner.

“So this place,” Babs said. “Does it let you bring your bike in? Because you don’t want a nice ride like that getting stolen.”

“They don’t mind. The owner is a family friend.” He pushed open the door and the bell chimed. Nodding to the woman at the counter, he said, “Hello Deirdre.”

“Hi Dick. The usual?” Deirdre asked.

“For me.” He looked at Babs. “Do you want…?”

“I’ll have whatever you recommend.”

“Alright. Two usuals, please.”

“Coming right up,” Deirdre said.

Dick chose a table by the window and Barbara slid out of her chair and into the booth opposite him.

A few minutes later, Deirdre delivered their sundaes which were in fancy glass holders and dripping with chocolate sauce. They started eating immediately.

“This is incredible,” Barbara said after her first mouthful.

“I meant what I said about these being the best ice cream sundaes you will ever taste. And one thing I never exaggerate about is ice cream.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.” She caught his eye and winked, hoping that was enough to indicate that they might see each other again. “That’s a cool bike,” she said, gesturing with her spoon at the BMX leaning against the back of their booth.

“Thanks. My guardian bought it for me. He’s kind of rich.”

“Kind of? I’m fairly sure that cost more than my dad’s car. Not that I’m judging or anything,” she added quickly, realising her comment had made him uncomfortable.

“Actually, he’s the one that suggested I look into stunt work as a way of keeping my skills going.”

“Skills?”

“I grew up in the circus, doing a lot of trapeze work. But after my parents died he took me in. One day he found me swinging from the chandelier trying to ‘fly’ again. After that, we both looked for a way to keep that feeling alive for me, eventually I tried this and really enjoyed it.” He looked at the table. “Kind of a downer, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I can actually relate on several accounts.”

He glanced up. “Really?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah. Let’s see -” she began counting on her fingers “- dead parents, check.”

“But you just mentioned your dad?”

“Who is my biological uncle and adoptive father. My birth parents were killed in a car accident. Wanting to fly again, check. After I started using a wheelchair, there were a lot of things I missed doing, gymnastics and sports chiefly among them. Taking to stunt work like a duck to water, check. It’s helped me get better at steering the chair and more comfortable in it.”

Dick nodded, looking at her interestedly.

“You can ask, you know.”

“Huh?”

“What people always want to know. Why I’m in a chair.”

“I’m not particularly curious about that, to be honest. However, I would be interested in learning your phone number.”

She laughed. “Okay, that was smooth. I’ll admit it.” She grabbed a pen out of her pocket and wrote her number on a napkin.

He put it in his shirt pocket and patted it. “I have to go, but I hope I’ll see you again sometime.” On his way out he called over to the woman at the counter, “See you, Deirdre.”

Barbara watched him walk away, then caught Deirdre looking at her with a knowing smile and coughed awkwardly before making her way out of the diner.


End file.
